YOUR VIEWS: Letters to the editor

Sunday

Mar 19, 2017 at 5:00 AM

Republicans now the party of choice?

We have just had it with the raging hypocrisy of the Republicans.

They are willing to take away health care from 15 million people (according to the Brookings Institute) as they seek to implement Trumpcare, and they justify this by touting that Americans will now have choice in their healthcare. Choice! So now the Republicans are the party of choice?

Do they even hear themselves trumpeting choice, even as they demolish a woman’s right to make her own decisions about her own body? Do they get it at all? Do they even care? Seems to us that the answer is obvious…no, they don’t.

Has Rep. Claudia Tenney become newly pro-Choice? Will she ust rubber-stamp Trumpcare? Or will she take the time to consider the devastating effects that Trumpcare will have on the most vulnerable citizens in your district, and across our country?

Please use your voice and your vote to act with courage.

JEFF AND JOAN GANELES

Utica

Chadwicks memories evoked by writer

I was so pleased to read the recent letter remembering our very beloved Chadwicks school.

We who attended Chadwicks school have such incredibly wonderful memories. It was a small school - everyone was included. It was as the writer said, idle for several years and then sold to a church.

I am very saddened by all the horrible stories being written about what has recently gone on there.

DOLORES OWENS

New Hartford

Past election doesn't seem democratic

For nearly 70 years I have told everyone to vote because all votes count.

Then last year I was shocked to learn that my vote and 2,800,000 others did not count for Hillary Clinton. The Electoral College decided that the one with the least votes won!

How is this? So is America still a democracy? Are the nearly three million votes not counted in favor of getting rid of the Electoral College?

The 45th president thinks he's a king, but at least he counts and the people are working against him.

I agree with the New York Times columnist who says an outraged populist can and must push back against a president and his allies who do not share our basic American values.

DEALY DOE EYES MADDUX

Saint Johnsville

A true patriot would respect the office

Regarding a March 9 letter:

News bulletin: The election is over and Donald J. Trump is our president for the next four years. I did not vote for the preceding president, but always respected the office of the presidency.

Neither President Trump nor the office earned or deserved the despicable adjectives attributed to "trumpery." If the writer considers himself an American patriot, then perhaps he should rethink his rhetoric and name-calling and strive to become part of the solution; not part of the problem.

VALERIE JONES

Clinton

Legal, recreational marijuana a mistake

Illegal drugs are killing our people, destroying our families and pulling apart the social fabric of our nation. Once someone becomes addicted to heroin, cocaine, methamphetamines, or other recreational drugs, their chances for complete recovery are very uncertain. We must prevent drug abuse not just address its consequences.

Marijuana is a significant link in the sequence of drug use progression, a progression that has led to this nation’s drug epidemic. A 2014 study showed that 44% of 6624 lifetime marijuana users, whose first drug use was marijuana, moved on to more dangerous illegal drugs. Many studies support the conclusions that marijuana is a gateway drug and legalization increases its use.

Marijuana use causes abnormal brain changes, memory loss, schizophrenia, respiratory illness, lower test scores, and significantly lower high school graduation rates. Marijuana-related traffic fatalities are also increasing, especially in Washington State and Colorado. Legalizing marijuana for recreational use is a mistake.

STEVEN R. FORTNAM

Westmoreland

Putting value on unborn children

Who values life more?

Which God values unborn children more than adult Muslims and Mexicans?

JOHN GARVEY

New Hartford

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